A Streak of Gray

A streak of gray, but don't wash it away.

The gray hairstreak is a butterfly.

We spotted this delicate-looking butterfly (Strymon melinus) on a red pincushion flower (Scabiosa) this week in Winters, Yolo County.

Gray on red. Fauna on flora. A Strymon on a Scabiosa.

Butterfly expert Arthur Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, includes hairstreaks in his book, Field Guide to Butterflies of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento Valley Regions (University of California Press).

If you look on his website, Art Shapiro's Butterfly Site, you can read all about the butterflies he studies.

Of the gray hairstreak, Shapiro writes: "This is one of the most polyphagous butterflies known, recorded on host plants in many families."

You'll often see the butterfly on the mallows, Spanish lotus, bird's-foot trefoil, white clover, alfalfa, and scores of other plants. We saw it nectaring on catmint (Nepeta) in our yard.

And on Scabiosa. A Strymon on a Scabiosa.